Gillum, the Democratic candidate, made the statement in a post on Twitter that comes two days after the machine recount results showed Republican DeSantis maintained his lead and the margin between both candidates was not enough to trigger a manual recount.

"I want to congratulate @RonDeSantisFL on becoming the next Governor of the great state of Florida. My wife R. Jai and I could not be prouder of the way we ran this race. We could not be more thankful to my running mate, @ChrisKingFL and his wife Kristen," Gillum wrote.

"Most importantly, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for being part of this campaign. I wouldn’t be here without the support that was shown by millions of Floridians. I encourage y’all to keep fighting for what we believe in," Gillum added.

During a Facebook live video, Gillum said that he will remain politically active and that his followers should "stay tuned."

DeSantis replied to Gillum's Twitter post: "This was a hard-fought campaign. Now it’s time to bring Florida together.

President Donald Trump earlier on Saturday congratulated Gillum on the hard-fought campaign in Florida.

"Congratulations to Andrew Gillum on having run a really tough and competitive race for Governor of the Great State of Florida. He will be a strong Democrat warrior long into the future - a force to reckon with!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

A manual recount was ordered in Florida's election for the U.S. Senate race between outgoing Florida Gov. Rick Scott and incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, as well as the Florida commissioner of agriculture race between Democrat Nikki Fried and Republican Matt Caldwell.